I need him to say something. Anything. But he’s still fiddling to the side of him.
‘Are you even listening to me? What the hell are you doing?’
‘Come here, silly.’
I think he’s pulling me to him, but he’s not. He’s pointing to the bench the other side of his leg. I lean over to look. He’s etched something into the surface of the wood. A love heart with anEandJeither side of it and4evaunderneath.
My mouth tips into a smile. ‘Do you mean it?’
He does our thing again and runs his forefinger down my forehead, nose and chin and then pulls me to him to kiss me on the lips. I lean into him. His body is warm and solid and I lay my head on his shoulder. I can only sit like that for a minute though until I have to shift around to get comfy again. I sigh. ‘Will you still love me when I’m fat and ugly?’
‘Of course.’ His lips tilt up in the tiniest of smiles and it pisses me off.
‘What the hell are you smirking at? This isn’t funny.’
‘I’m not laughing.’ He grabs my hand and I try to pull away, but he won’t let me. ‘You’ll never be ugly to me.’ His face splits into a full-on grin. ‘You will however get fat.’
I slap him on the arm. ‘Oi.’
‘We will always be 4eva. Promise.’ He winks at me and my inside cartwheel. ‘I got you something.’
I watch him, puzzled, as he goes to the back of the hut and wrestles with something which has been squashed into the corner behind our fold-out table. It’s scarlet and huge. I don’t know how I missed it when we first came in. He drops it in front of me and it settles into a squashy heap.
‘Oh my god you bought a beanbag.’
‘I’ve seen how you can’t get comfortable. I thought this might help.’ He looks almost embarrassed.
‘How the hell did you get it here? It’s huge.’
He laughs. ‘On the bus. It was a bloody nightmare. I knocked some old fella’s cap off his head and he wasn’t impressed, and shoved a lad flying when I tried to get out of my seat. But it’s here now. Do you think it’ll help?’
I love the fact he’s noticed that however I position myself on the benches and however many cushions I hog, I can’t get comfortable. I’m not sure if getting down on the floor when I look like a beached whale is going to be very practical, but I’m not going to tell him that.
‘I’ll give it a go.’
I lower myself down into it and wriggle. The beads settle around me like a cocoon. ‘Oo. It’s lovely.’ I nestle my head back into the cool soft fabric. ‘I might fall asleep here. There’s one drawback though.’
He looks a little crestfallen. ‘Oh.’
I giggle. ‘I don’t want to be down here all alone. This thing’s huge. Do you think it’ll take both of us?’
He grins and drops down to join me, squishing in behind me.We spoon, his arm lying gently across my tummy, and I close my eyes and smile.
Chapter Eleven
I can hear Jill humming in the kitchen. She’s making banana bread out of the reduced-price bananas I bought from the minimart in the village yesterday. I pick up the single envelope the postman dropped in this morning. I’ve not opened it. It has the coffee supplier’s logo on the front and I know what’s inside. For a second, I think about sliding it underneath the till and burying my head in the sand. Then, with a sigh, slide my finger under the flap and rip it open.
As I guessed, it’s a statement of my account, only this time it’s accompanied by a personalised letter from their accounts department. I fold it back up without reading it.
‘All done and in the oven,’ says Jill, wiping her hands on her apron as she comes out of the kitchen. ‘I managed to make three so we can freeze two of them and they’ll do us for a while.’
‘Thanks. You’re a gem. I’ll make some cookies later for tomorrow.’
Jill puts her hands in her trouser pockets and then takes them out and faffs with her hair.
‘What’s up?’
She approaches the counter and pulls up a stool. ‘Can I have a word?’
